About Us

Capital City Clauses, Inc. is a federally registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit corporation comprised entirely of volunteers. Our mission is to bring holiday cheer to Wake County children in need by collecting toys to deliver to the children during the holiday season. We strive to effectively engage community, individual and corporate partners throughout Wake County using dynamic events and strategic communication tools that motivate and inspire these partners to become involved in bigger and better ways than ever before.

Our History

The Jingle Ball started in 1993 and was originally hosted at the N.C. Museum of History. After moving to Raleigh from Charlotte, Stephen Bryant was inspired to start a charity event to help families in need during the holiday season. He used the event model from Second String Santa based in Charlotte, but instead of Social Services, he approached the Salvation Army as the charity partner because the organization had a delivery mechanism for toy distribution and financial assistance already in place.

Bryant pitched the event idea to the Wake County Salvation Army and they agreed to partner with him for one year to see how the event went.

After recruiting several friends who worked and lived around downtown Raleigh to join him, Bryant and his team starting planning the event for early December and did the legal work to get the Capital City Clauses set-up as a non-profit.

The original Capital City Clauses solicited financial sponsors, as well as food and beverage sponsors, to host the first Jingle Ball. Their goal was to ensure that as many donations as possible generated at the event could go directly to the families in need.

The response from the community was overwhelming at the first Jingle Ball- not only did the event generate significant donations for the Salvation Army through toy and cash donations, but it also generated enough seed money for the Capital City Clauses to continue operations between the annual events.

“The day after the first Jingle Ball, the Museum of History and the Salvation Army called me asking if they could partner with the Capital City Clauses again the following year,” said Bryant.

Since then, the Capital City Clauses have donated tens of thousands of new toys and provided financial support for the Wake County Salvation Army’s Christmas Cheer program. The event has since moved from the N.C. Museum of History to Disco Rodeo to the old Convention Center and finally to Marbles Kids Museum for the past several years.

Our Leadership

The Capital City Clauses Board of Directors is a team of volunteers comprised of young professionals in the Greater Triangle area. Each member brings with them a different background and skill set that help the organization collect more toys for The Salvation Army each year – and make the Jingle Ball one of the most unique holiday events of the year. Meet our 2015 Board Members.